Make a Difference

Helping to educate dentists who can have a great long term impact on the oral health of one of the worlds most in need countries.

About Us

Make A Dentist (MAD) is a British National Organisation that was initially set up in 2009 under the name of BLUZ by Dentistry students of University of London (Barts and The London).

The campaign was overseen by the Dental President and Dean of Dentistry every year and has been a great success towards its cause. Dental education and clinical goods were collected and sent to Dentistry students in Zimbabwe.

This has had a significant impact on their education. Once started as a Dental Student campaign, it has now re-launched nationally to allow other Dental Professionals to take part in this beautiful act of humanity towards our colleagues in Zimbabwe. We are privileged to work as Dentists in one of the richest countries in the world where we have the power of funding our education and professional development.

However, our colleagues in Zimbabwe are not as fortunate as we are and our pledge is to support them.

The purpose of this campaign is simple:

1 We will send you a list of education and clinical material and tools needed (also available on our website).

2 Send us what you can from the request list: in most cases these will be either education materials or clinical materials that are un-used, which can be invaluable for someone in need.

3 We will raise funds for shipment of these goods. Click here to contact us and find out how to get involved

In all African countries, it has been established that in the domain of dentistry, the situation has deteriorated dramatically over the past thirty years. According to the World Health Organization, we are witnessing a devastating increase in the number of cavities and gum disease in this area of the world. Various factors such as the unfortunate modification of eating habits which include excessive sugar intake, the lack of knowledge of the mouth and dental diseases and of their prevention, the shortage of health services available including qualified staff and management and lack of equipment, the overall poor health of the general population can often mask or worsen a dental problem. Not to mention the harsh environment with its demographic problems both socio-economic and geographic, can all be attributed to this decline in oral health.

Efforts have been made to set up mobile clinics to help population of Zimbabwe with the oral health needs but the only way to solve this problem long term is to help nationals become educated in the field of dentistry so that they can one day maintain the countries needs themselves.

Our Sponsors

If you would like to see your logo appear here and are willing to sponsor us please Contact us today.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

Nelson Mandela

Get Involved

Our pledge is very simple:

You are helping to educate dentists who can have a great long term impact on the oral health of one of the worlds most in need countries. The most important part of this campaign is that there is no cost involved in helping, all you need to do is to spend very little of your time to sends us what you dont need.

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We give you a list of what we need.

You send us what you don’t need.

We send goods collected to students in Zimbabwe.

Committee Members

Pr Farida FortunePatron

Pr Fortune is the patron of Make A Dentist organization that was set up in 2009 with efforts of Dental Students at Royal London Hospital. Some of these students are still part of the committee. Pr Fortune oversees the activities of the committee and ensure ethical and precise progression.

Dr Saeid HaghriOperations Manager & Treasurer

I am the founder of MAD in 2009 under supervision of Pr Fortune and wonderful work of dental students at the Royal London Hospital. The organization was formed under the name of BLUZ and has been since re-launched under the name lf MAD. The idea of this organization evolved during my term as Dental President at our university, which was a great success and exceeded the expectations that we initially had. Now we have come together again to launch this organization on a national level and plan to expand to other countries once we are successful in Zimbabwe. I am the founder of a number of organizations in the past some of which nationally recognized. I work as a dentist part time and work on a number of business projects in relation to dentistry.

Dr Sundeep RoopraiChair

I am the chair of MAD Charity 2014-15 Committee. My Role is to ensure the smooth running of the management mechanisms associated with the charity. I qualified from Barts and the London, where I was involved with the dental committee responsible for creating MAD. I currently am completing my career development year in Oral Surgery at Kings College Hospital and working part time at Capital Dental. It is an honour to be able to build on the great work with all those attached with this charity and I look forward to helping the charity reach new heights with the help of my wonderful committee.

Dr Sarah BuxMedia and Marketing Manager

As media manager this year I hope to highlight and intellectually engage you in MAD’s worthy cause.
I am currently a dental core trainee at St George’s and Kingston hospitals, I also work part time as a dental associate in Hackney.
When I was a student at the University of Sheffield, I was an active member of the International Students Media Committee and managed the publicity for world week 2010 during which we stopped traffic for the first international city parade which has now become an annual event.
My dental public health professor enthused in me an interest in sustainable charity work, this was reflected in my elective project which won a travel award.
I look forward to seeing you at our events and ask that you continue to support MAD’s vision for a better future.

Dr Hardeep Kaur KoonerGeneral Secretary

Warm welcome to you. I am excited and humbled to be part of this team of enthusiastic professionals and in my role as general secretary I will be able to help develop this inspirational dental service. Specifically, I will provide information about our meetings, social and academic events for our members.

I am currently completing my core dental trainee post in general duties at King’s College Hospital. I graduated with Distinction from the University of Dundee in 2012, where alongside my studies I really enjoyed actively participating in a number of voluntary charitable projects. For this, I was awarded the Best Student in Dental Hospital Practice prize.

Dr David BrettonSocial Secretary

I graduated from Newcastle University in 2013 and I am currently working as a general dentist at Honley Dental in Yorkshire. I am very excited and humbled to be part of the MAD team; a group which has great potential to positively affect the dental community on an international level. My role as social secretary primarily involves organising and coordinating social and academic events. My aim is to help promote MAD in order to help maximise the impact the charity can have.

Dr Zahra JavedSocial Secretary

I graduated from Barts and The London in July 2012 and currently spend my time working as a general dentist in primary care. I am so excited to be a part of the MAD team as charity is something that I am truly passionate about and I believe together we will make a positive difference. I hope to bring a lot of fun and success to the upcoming MAD events and look forward to an exciting year ahead!

Dr Natalie BradleySocial Secretary

I graduated from Newcastle University in 2014 and am currently a Dental Core Trainee at Guy’s Hospital in London as well as working part-time in practice. Contributing to this worthy charity is such a fantastic opportunity that’s I’m honoured to be working with.

Mr Corwin HinesZimbabwe Ambassador

‘I am currently in my penultimate year of BDS-GEP course at Barts & The London and have previously completed a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science undertaking research in oral cancer within the department of Clinical & Diagnostic Oral Sciences. As theStudent Ambassador for MAD I am responsible for undergraduate dental students’ involvement with the charity, collecting supplies and raising awareness. Zimbabwe is close to my heart as I will be undertaking a 6 week elective placement at UZ in July 2014.

Dr Jon BentonStudent Ambassador Coordinator

At present I am in my penultimate year of Dental School at Manchester University. I have always had a passion for charity and am very excited to play an integral role in the development of the MAD charity, as well as its other projects. My experiences have included; raising £45,000 as part of a small team of 6 for the local community, hosting a community meet-and-greet project in college, teaching an orphanage of 80 children in rural India about dental hygiene and receiving the MLP gold award for >60 hours community volunteering

Ryan HowellsStudent Ambassador-Senior (Barts and the London)

I am currently in my fourth year at Bart’s and The London. I have a keen interest in charity work and enjoy helping others in any way I can. Previous experiences of mine include working with Barts and the London Saving faces society, Student assisted medical and dental admissions (SAMDA), Raising and giving (RAG), Bridge the Gap and St John’s Hospice summer fayre. I am delighted to have been selected as the senior student rep for Bart’s and the London and look forward to working alongside my colleagues at MAD and within Bart’s to raise awareness of the issues we are aiming to tackle.

Kyriaki AnastasakisStudent Ambassador-Junior (Barts and the London)

I am in my third year of Dentistry at Barts and the London. Coming from a country currently in the midst of a huge crisis, financial and humanitarian, I appreciate the importance of offering to those in need and how “offering” can take different forms; it’s not just about the basic needs. Among the activities I have taken part in so far are marathons raising money for poverty, Cancer Research and Alzheimer’s, preparing and serving breakfast to the homeless both in the UK and in Greece, helping out in elderly and child care homes and many more. I am very excited to be part of the “Make A Dentist” team so I can raise awareness about this amazing charity and engage more people to participate.

Naomi MurrayStudent Ambassador (University of Liverpool)

I am a 3rd year student at the University of Liverpool. I have previously spent time volunteering in charity shops, running after-school clubs for autistic children from local primary schools, mentoring and tutoring younger students and participated in a fun-run. This charity lies close to my heart as I have wanted to be a dentist from a very young age, so supporting our colleagues who are less fortunate than ourselves in their education and professional development is very important to me as I want to give back something to the community. I am very excited to be the student ambassador and my aim will be to promote and raise awareness of MAD.

Gurpreet Singh SachdevaStudent Ambassador (Kings College London)

I am currently in my second year at Kings College London. Make a Dentist will provide an excellent opportunity to both raise my awareness of the difference in dentistry overseas and at the same time increase my appreciation of the current and past work done by the charity itself. Having helped out with the team at the event held at KCL this year, I have shown my willingness to get involved with the charity and support its cause. In the past, I have been involved in raising in excess of £3000 as part of a team for operation smiles and MAD will allow me to continue being involved with a charity; Having been an ambassador for Nishaan at Kings (an inter-uni organisation which brings together Sikh students to educate, raise money for charity and raise awareness about current issues affecting Sikhs), I have developed an understanding of the responsibilities of an ambassador. Having also been the Head of logistics and a committed member of Bhangra Society, which we started this year, I am aware of the time and hard work required to help grow and raise awareness. I understand that supporting dental students and improving dental health care in Zimbabwe is a key vision for MAD, and therefore raising awareness and helping the charity to grow is fundamental to achieving success.

Aruna UbhiStudent Ambassador (University of Sheffield)

I am currently in my third year at Sheffield and I am truly honoured to be part of MAD. I have had a huge passion for getting involved with charity from a young age and have seen the positive effects of raising money and awareness firsthand. I have collaborating with many people to raise money for a variety of charities, including organising a ball for Rainbows Hospice, spearheading many events for UNICEF on Campus and informing locals in Sheffield about Mouth Cancer Awareness. I am very excited to bring my skills to MAD at a university level and raise awareness of the charity around Sheffield.

Amarjot KaurStudent Ambassador (University of Birmingham)

I am currently in my 4th year of studying Dentistry at the University of Birmingham and am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the M.A.D. movement. I look forward to getting all the staff and students at Birmingham Dental Hospital involved in such a worthy cause. We are so fortunate to have readily access to educational materials and facilities, so what better way than to use our resources to break barriers which limit our dental colleagues abroad. My experiences include raising awareness and funds for Cancer Research UK, St Mary’s Hospice and many other university-led charitable events.

Ariyan AraghiStudent Ambassador (University of Manchester)

Hello! My name is Ariyan and I’m a 4th Year BDS at Manchester. I am so excited to be involved with the MAD charity – what a great initiative and it is always nice to be able to help those who are less fortunate.
As Co-President of the Manchester Dental Students Society, I managed to help organise several charity events this year, including the shaving off of my own hair! I’ll also be attending an elective programme this summer, hoping to provide emergency dental care in a rural Vietnamese village. I’ll be sure to see you all soon at one of the upcoming conferences or charity events that MAD will be hosting!

Donya GhorbaniStudent Ambassador (Cardiff University)

Honored to have been selected to represent Cardiff University as a dental student, I can not think of a more valuable task than contributing to the education of our international colleagues who share our Dental aspirations. Raising funds for various charities has always been a prime passion and my past activities include fundraising for ‘Help for Heroes’ as a member of the Royal Naval Reserve, being a committee member for the first MedDay in Cardiff raising funds for ‘CLAPA’, spending the prize money I received for a National anti-racism art competition to purchase goats for a family in Zimbabwe, raising funds for ‘Cancer Research UK’ as a Miss Birmingham finalist, fundraising for and organising a trip with several architects to help build a school in Maku (Iran) and various annual bake-sales for another multitude of charities – who know where my efforts for ‘Make a Dentist’ will take me?!

Zahrah RazaStudent Ambassador (Penninsula University)

I am a third year dental student at Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry. Since starting at PUPSMD, I have endeavored to make positive contributions through standing as charity officer for the Dental Society. Previous to this, I studied biomedical science at King’s College London. During my study abroad semester at the National University of Singapore, I engaged in charity work across South East Asia. As a MAD student representative, I will strive to build on the tremendous work of the current committee and feel equipped for this role with the experience I have. I believe my compassionate nature alongside my strong desire to give back will help me to achieve this.

Shanil PatelStudent Ambassador (University of Leeds)

I am currently a 4th Year student at The University of Leeds. This is a fantastic project that will provide me with the opportunity to input different ideas to fund-raise for a great cause. Through my voluntary experiences in India where I helped a mobile doctor treat those without hospital access, I realised how much I take life for granted, and that we should all do our part to help others who don’t have the same opportunities. I will be travelling to Cambodia this summer to provide dental care to those unable to access it. It is an honour and a privilege to be able to spread awareness and raise funds at my University but also around the country.

Rosie FletcherStudent Ambassador (UCLAN)

Having qualified from Manchester as a hygiene therapist, I have gone on to study dentistry at UcLan, where I am currently in 3rd BDS. This was a fantastic decision for me. I am keen to raise the profile of UcLan dental school as I believe it is a unique institution. Charity work has always been something I have been involved with and I was honoured to get the role as rep for my school. I have previously travelled to Argentina and been involved in community projects at a local school, coached swimming to children in the special Olympics, gained silver in MLP and hope to do a dental outreach trip next summer. I look forward to raising awareness within the dental community and to get some charity events organised to raise money for this worthwhile cause.